CONTENT WARNING: Underage characters in fictional setting.
She couldn’t explain why she was having these nightmares. Every night when she closed her eyes Beatrice Haywood found herself floating in a dark void like she was underwater. She would look up and find the surface of the lake several meters above her. She could never explain how she was able to hold her breath for so long. And when she looked down she saw blackness. She knew she should swim up, but the dark seemed to call to her. It drew her deeper until something in the depths reached out to her, it’s many tentacles extending up to her floating form to envelope her and drag her under. She would wake up in a cold sweat, shivering in her dorm room sitting up in her bed.
She never told anyone about her dreams, her nightmares. She didn’t want people to treat her differently, like she was that fragile little girl who got cursed and trapped in a portrait again. She brushed the dreams off and got on with her life.
But something about it kept tugging at her. She felt drawn to the Black Lake, as if the waters were calling to her, pulling at her mind and body. She resisted for weeks, until one afternoon the allure got the better of her.
She didn’t even remember the walk to the lakeshore, sneaking out of the castle to approach the lake via one of the piers. The wooden boards creaked as she walked over them, the gentle wind cutting through her thick coat and school uniform. She walked up to the edge of the pier and gazed down into the water, her troubled reflection staring back at her. It seemed to voice the thought she’d had since she arrived; why am I here? She looked out over the lake, scanning the surface as if the answers would reveal themselves. Why did her dreams lead me here? Is this about the cursed vault?
She didn’t know how long she stood them. Long enough it seemed to suddenly grow tired. Her eyelids started to fluttered closed and her balance wavered. She tried to stay awake but watching the water made her sleepy. She forced her eyes to stay open, her mind urging her to turn around and go back to the castle. But her body refused to move, too exhausted to comply. She looked out over the lake and saw movement, shapes under the surface approaching her. She knew she should leave, but she was just so tired.
Her eyelids became heavy as the first few tentacles of the squid rose from the water, extending to the wooden pier reaching from the lake towards the young girl. She was too exhausted to run as her eyes fell closed, her mind giving into exhaustion as the arms coiled up her legs and around her waist, catching her as she drifted off into its embrace.
The arms lifted the young Hufflepuff off her feet and carried her over the lake, cradling her small frame as she drifted in and out of her inadvertent slumber. It’s tentacles ranged in sizes, some as thin as her arm to as large as her hips. She felt them wrap around her body holding her gently as she was lowered carefully into the water. For a moment she fears she was being dragged under, but instead she just rested on the surface, floating gracefully with its arms keeping her afloat. Her head lay back feeling like she was on a pillow, the call to sleep overcoming her as she slipped into an unconscious state.
She drifted on the lake feeling the squid’s tentacles run over her body. She found any hesitation evaporated as she dozed in and out of consciousness, her fears of drowning dissolving. She got the sense the creature wasn’t going to hurt her, that’s not why she was here. She was here to relax, to forget her troubles, let the nightmares go for a while. It was intimate, gentle, it’s tentacles reaching under her coat to brush against her uniform, the water soaking through her clothes. She felt goosebumps rise on her skin where they touched her, her breath hitching as she was slowly wrapped up in its arms. It didn’t trap her or restrain her, not even as it coiled around her arms and legs, slithering around her waist. She shivered when one of the tentacles crept under her vest, stroking her chest through the shirt. A slimmer tentacle snaked around her neck to slip down her shirt, seeking out her underdeveloped breast capturing her nipple with a sucker. She gasped softly, squirming only a little bit in their grasp. She felt another brush between her thighs, pressing against her underwear beneath her skirt. She shuddered for a moment. She wasn’t ready for anything like she was imagining. She kept her eyes closed as she felt the gentlest touch across her lips, a tentacle brushing her mouth tenderly. She instinctively pressed her lips together, which the creature seemed to take into account as it moved to her cheek instead, caressing her jaw. She relaxed into its embrace, letting it massage her, stroke her, fondle her. It felt nice. It felt nice to forget for a while.
She lost track of time as she lay there on the lake, the tentacles coiled around her toying with her. She wasn’t sure if this was wrong, or maybe she didn’t care that she was being molested. What wasn’t in dispute was how good the squid made her feel. Her body tingled until she felt something buzz through her midsection, like a wave of pleasure that made her lightheaded. Beatrice finally fell asleep in the lake, the tentacles unfurling around her leaving her adrift and unconscious until a pair of siblings saw her and came to her rescue.
Comments